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Mr. Popo
|JapName=ミスター・ポポ |RomName=Misutā Popo |AniName=Mr. Popo |MangaName=Mr. Popo |AltName= |CanonTo=Original Manga |FirstApp=Issue #135 |AnimeApp=Dragon Ball episode #125 |Race=Genie |Date of birth=Before Age 461 |Date of death=Age 774 (Revived) |FamConnect= Dende (Guardian) Kami (Former Guardian) Goku (Student) Tien Shinhan (Student) Krillin (Student) Yamcha (Student) Chiaotzu (Student) Yajirobe (Student)}} Mr. Popo (ミスター・ポポ Misutā Popo) is a character and deity in the Dragon Ball series by Akira Toriyama. He is an immortal genie who tends the grounds of Kami's Lookout and is bound there eternally as the gardener and caretaker. He uses a magic carpet for Instant Transportation. History Dragon Ball Though he may not appear to physically age, Mr. Popo is very old; having served Kami, the Guardian of Earth for hundreds of years, he also served Kami's predecessor, as well as every other guardian of the Earth in the past.Short profile at DBZGT Legacy Being the loyal and faithful servant that he is, his purpose consists mainly of tending to Kami’s Palace, keeping the Lookout clean, helping to reconstruct Shenron if needed, and most importantly, taking care of Kami. He also tends to the ancient butterfly garden that he planted thousands of years ago, and enjoys the more simple things in life. While Funimation’s English dubbed Mr. Popo speaks complete, highly sophisticated sentences, the Japanese version proves him to be a seemingly primitive figure. His grasp of the common tongue is less than the English-dubbed version makes it out to be, and in addition, the Japanese version has him commonly referring to himself in the third person, which is done in the English version too as well as in the video game Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi. Although his skill as a martial artist is not shown frequently, Mr. Popo is an excellent martial arts master. When he is introduced in Dragon Ball, he is far stronger than Goku when the two meet at the Lookout. He trains Goku for three years until the young warrior learns everything he knows, and enters the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament to defeat Piccolo Jr. with his newly attained abilities. Some of the techniques Goku developed in his three-year training later proved valuable; such as the Ki Sense and the Super Kamehameha, a more lethal version of the trademark attack. When used against Piccolo Jr. in the World Martial Arts Tournament, however, the demon survives it with minimal damage. Dragon Ball Z Saiyans Attack Five years later, Mr. Popo and Kami train Krillin, Tien Shinhan, Yamcha, Chiaotzu and Yajirobe in order to help combat the approaching threat of the Saiyans. He also helps Bulma, Krillin, and Gohan get to the Planet Namek by telling them about Kami's old spaceship and showing Bulma its location at Yunzabit Heights by using his Magic Carpet. He later collects the Dragon Balls in less than one day on Earth to resurrect all those who were killed by Frieza and his soldiers on Namek. Garlic Jr.'s return In the filler Garlic Jr. Saga, Mr. Popo is attacked by Garlic Jr.'s henchmen while watering the plants on the Lookout. He is sealed in a glass cup by Garlic Jr. Later, he is released by Krillin and Piccolo. He takes Kami to the bottom of the Lookout to spread the Sacred Water where the former Guardians' graves lie. He later spreads the Sacred Water to the Earth. The Androids and Cell Three years later, Mr.Popo appears again in the Cell Saga, where he leads Goku, Gohan, Trunks and Vegeta to the Hyperbolic Time Chamber for a year of training in one day. Later, he observes the Cell Games on the Lookout with the new guardian of the Earth, Dende. Death and revival Seven years later, in the Majin Buu story arcs, Mr. Popo comes up with the idea of having Trunks and Goten do the Fusion Dance after everyone else runs out of other ideas. The family and friends of the Z Fighters take refuge from Majin Buu on Kami's Lookout. Mr. Popo also observes the fusion of Trunks and Goten. A day later, Super Buu finds the Lookout and allows them to live for a short time. While there, Super Buu used his Human Extinction Attack to kill all the people on Earth, except for Mr. Satan, his dog Bee, Tien, Chiaotzu, and the family and friends on the Lookout. When Buu escapes from the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, Mr. Popo and the rest are turned into chocolate and eaten. However, before he was turned into chocolate, after seeing the murders of Android 18 and her daughter, Popo bravely makes a quick decision, seizing Dende and hurling him off of the lookout, out of Buu's rampage. He is commended for his bravery by Piccolo, when the Namek comes across the surviving Dende. Popo is later revived and gives his energy to help Goku make the Super Spirit Bomb to destroy Kid Buu. He greets Dende warmly when he and the others arrive back on Earth. Anime filler When Goku first reaches Kami's Lookout in the anime filler, he encounters Mr. Popo seated on a Persian rug (likely the same one he uses to fly with in Dragon Ball Z) and with what appears to be a light fog covering him and birds on his shoulders. After they greet each other and battle, Goku puts up a good fight against the genie and attempts a Kamehameha wave at him, only to have it literally swallowed by Mr. Popo in return. Goku then tries to defeat Mr. Popo by using the "punch that beat King Piccolo" (also known as "Penetrate!") only to have him evade it with no difficulty. During the Majin Buu Saga, he has a brief match with Goten and Trunks in Super Saiyan form, respectively. During the fight, he blocks several hits and even dodges a kick. After Trunks manages to kick him once, he appears uninjured; proving him a far stronger character than others assume he is. However, Mr. Popo himself states that Kami was on a different plane of power than his own, and Goku, after the three years spent training with Popo, was stated and shown to far surpass Kami's own skills and strength. Yet, five years later, he was practically helpless in a fight against Raditz, even with Piccolo's aid, and had to sacrifice himself just to beat the 1,200-power soldier that the later villains, Vegeta and Nappa, would consider to be "that weakling." Given these statements from the manga, Mr. Popo standing his ground against them in their Super Saiyan forms might be one of the inconsistencies regarding power and plots or it might be because Trunks and Goten are less experienced in fighting than Mr. Popo. Dragon Ball GT Mr. Popo has a very small role in Dragon Ball GT. In the first episode, he prepared to restore the Lookout after Goku and Uub finished their intense training and damaged the place almost entirely. He remains as a background character for most of the show. He is last seen during the flashback montage sequence in the final episode. Movie Appearances *''The Return of Cooler'' *''Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans'' *''Bardock - The Father of Goku'' (seen in one of Bardock's visions) Special abilities *'Levitate': This is the ability to fly using one's ki. Mr. Popo can quickly control his energy and push ki out from underneath him allowing him to fly or levitate in the air with ease. *'Magic Materialization': A magical ability used to create objects from seemingly thin air. Mr. Popo can bring out a rolled-up ball of carpet from nowhere and throw it upon the ground which, instead of actually touching the floor, opens up in mid-air and becomes his magical flying carpet. *'Instantaneous Movement': Unlike the Instant Transmission, he can transport instantly to a desired location on Earth without requiring the use of an energy signature to home in on. He is first seen using this technique when he transported with Bulma on his flying carpet to Yunzabit Heights, which was the region where Kami's old house (which was really a spaceship) crash-landed and needed to be restored. *'Swallow ''ki blasts': Mr. Popo can swallow [[Ki Blast|blasts of ''ki]] as shown in Dragon Ball when he fought Goku at Kami's Lookout. Voice Actors *Japanese dub: Toku Nishio (DB, DBZ, DBGT, DBZ Movie 6), Kawazu Yasuhiko (Dragon Ball Kai) *Ocean dub: Alvin Sanders (Saiyan and Namek sagas), French Tickner (Android Saga onwards) *Funimation dub: Chris Cason (DBZ Season 3 originally, Dragon Ball Z Kai), Christopher Sabat (Everything else) *Brazilian dub: Cesar Marchetti Trivia *In the event that a guardian dies before finding a successor, Mr. Popo (who is immortal) is responsible for finding one. *To some, Mr. Popo is claimed to be a variant of darky iconography, a "racist" style of caricature.[http://www.ferris.edu/jimcrow/newforms/ New Racist Forms: Jim Crow in the 21st Century article] On May 4, 2000, an article written by children's book author Carole Boston Weatherford claimed that Mr. Popo, along with the Pokémon #124, Jynx, were derogatory stereotypes because of the black skin, big lips, and for Mr. Popo, the lack of teeth.[http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:63650354/Japans+bigoted+exports+to+kids%7eR%7e(Opinion).html Entry page to Japan's bigoted exports to kids.(Opinion) article] In 2004, Viz began to downsize Mr. Popo's large lips digitally in the American release of the manga. Pokémon had changed Jynx's face and hands to purple.Viz Media's modifications to Mr. Popo's lips in the manga *Mr. Popo seems to be able to speak the Namek language taught to him by Kami (even though Kami found out he was from Namek only a short while before his death). *In the 4Kids version of Dragon Ball Z Kai, Mr. Popo is recolored royal blue. Notes and references External links *Early character drawings at http://www.daizex.com/ Category:Characters who can fly Category:Characters Who Cannot Die of Natural Causes Category:Deities Category:Dragon Ball Category:Dragon Ball Z Category:Dragon Ball GT Category:Local Deities Category:Males Category:Martial Artists Category:Z Fighters Support